Wilford and Phebe Woodruff Lose a Daughter

When Wilford Woodruff left his wife, Phebe, and his daughter, Sarah Emma, for his first mission to Great Britain in 1839, Phebe was pregnant. During his travels to England he dreamed about his wife. On 28 November 1839 he related:


"[I] had a dream while upon my bed. And in my dream I saw Mrs. Woodruff, and notwithstanding we rejoiced much having an interview with each other, yet our embraces were mixed with sorrow for after conversing a while about her domestic affairs I asked where Sarah Emma was, our only child. She [said] weeping and kissing me, 'She is dead.' We sorrowed a moment and [then] I awoke. Phebe also said she had not received my letters. Is this dream true? Time must determine."

Nearly a year later on 26 November 1840, Wilford received several letters from Nauvoo, one from Sister Margaret Smoot and another from his beloved Phebe -- his dream had indeed been a warning. He noted, "The letters from Phebe and Sister Smoot gave an account of the death and burial of our oldest child Sarah Emma, who died July 17, 1840, being two years and three days old."
Phebe wrote to Wilford on the day following Sarah Emma's death:

"My dear Wilford, what will be your feelings, when I say that yesterday I was called to witness the departure of our little Sarah Emma from this world? Yes, she is gone. The relentless hand of death has snatched her from my embrace. But Ah! She was too lovely, too kind, too affectionate to live in this wicked world. When looking on her I have often thought how I should feel to part with her, I thought I could not live without her, especially in the absence of my companion. But she has gone."

Phebe continued, "Yes, Wilford we have one little angel in heaven, and I think likely her spirit has visited you before this time." Her description of the last days and moments of Sarah Emma's life must have caused tears to well up in her lonely companion's eyes. "She used to call her poor papa and putty papa many times in a day. She left a kiss for her papa with me just before she died."

The walk to the cemetery was quite hard for the young mother. "She had no relative to follow her to the grave or to shed a tear for her," Phebe wrote Wilford, "only her Ma and little Wilford [a son born while Wilford was gone]."

(Holzapfel, _Women of Nauvoo_, pp. 75-76)

(Compiled and written by David Kenison, Orem, Utah, dkenison@xmission.com)

Mary Rollins Lightner Recalls a Meeting with Joseph Smith

I joined the Church in the year 1830, in Kirtland, Ohio, just six months after it was first organized. I was then twelve years old.

The Smith family came to Kirtland early in the spring of 1831. After they were settled in their house, mother and I went to see them. We had heard so much about the Golden Bible, as it was then called, that we were very anxious to hear more. The whole Smith family, excepting Joseph, was there. As we stood talking to them, Brother Joseph and Martin Harris came in with two or three others. When the greetings were over, Brother Joseph looked around very solemnly (it was the first time some of them had ever seen him) and said, "There are enough here to hold a little meeting."

A board was put across two chairs to make seats. Martin Harris sat on a little box at Joseph's feet. They sang and prayed, then Joseph got up to speak. He began very solemnly and very earnestly; all at once his countenance changed and he stood mute. He turned so white, he seemed perfectly transparent. Those who looked at him that night said he looked like he had a searchlight within him. I never saw anything like it on earth. I could not take my eyes away from him. I remember I thought we could almost see the bones through the flesh of his face.

I shall remember him as he looked then as long as I live.

He stood some moments looking over the congregation, as if to pierce each heart, then said, "Do you know who has been in your midst this night?"

One of the Smiths said, "An angel of the Lord."

Martin Harris said, "It was our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ."

Joseph put his hand down on Martin's head and said,
"The Spirit of God revealed that to thee. Yes, brothers and sisters, the Savior has been in your midst this night, and I want you all to remember it. There is a veil over your eyes, for you could not endure to look upon him. You must be fed with milk not with strong meat. I want you all to remember this as if it were the last thing that escapes my lips. He has given you all to me, and commanded me to seal you up to everlasting life, that where he is there you may be also. And if you are tempted of Satan say, 'Get behind me Satan, for my salvation is secure.'" 

Then he knelt down and prayed. And such a prayer, I never heard before or since. We all felt that he was talking to the Lord and that the Spirit of the Lord rested down on the congregation.
(Mary E. Rollins Lightner, Young Woman's Journal 16 (1905), pp. 556-7)



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Stories from Church History - distributed on the Internet by:
David Kenison, dkenison@xmission.com

A Son's Death and a Busy Father

David O. McKay related the following story as part of a funeral sermon he gave in 1943. Further details were supplied in the second account, from Harold B. Lee.

"One day in Salt Lake City a son kissed his mother good morning, took his dinner bucket, and went to City Creek Canyon where he worked. He was a switchman on the train that was carrying logs out of the canyon. Before noon his body was brought back lifeless. The mother was inconsolable. She could not be reconciled to that tragedy -- her boy just in his early twenties so suddenly taken away. The funeral was held, and words of consolation were spoken, but she was not consoled. She couldn't understand it.

"One forenoon, so she says, after her husband had gone to his office to attend to his duties as a member of the Presiding Bishopric, she lay in a relaxed state on the bed, still yearning and praying for some consolation. She said that her son appeared and said, "Mother, you needn't worry. That was merely an accident. I gave the signal to the engineer to move on, and as the train started, I jumped for the handle of the freight car, and my foot got caught in a sagebrush, and I fell under the wheel. I went to father soon after that, but he was so busy in the office I couldn't influence him -- I couldn't make any impression upon him, and I tried again. Today I come to you to give you that comfort and tell you that I am happy."

Well, you may not believe it. You may think she imagined it, but you can't make her think so, and you can't make that boy's father think it. I cite it today as an instance of the reality of the existence of intelligence and environment to which you and I are "dead," so to speak, as was this boy's father.
(David O. McKay, Gospel Ideals, pp. 525-6)

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Account from Harold B. Lee:

One of the General Authorities had a son working on the railroad that went up Emigration Canyon to the mines in the early days. This boy was found crushed to death under the train. He was working as a switchman. His mother had the feeling that someone had pushed him under the train and taken his life. When the services were held, she was not comforted. But after some weeks, the mother said this boy appeared to her. He said, "Mother, I've been trying to get to Father to tell him it was just an accident. I had thrown the switch and was running to catch on to the hand bars, but my foot tripped against a root at the side of a rail and I was thrown underneath the train. It was a pure accident. I've been trying to get to Father, but he's too busy at the office. I can't reach him." President McKay said, "Brethren, don't you get so busy at the office that spiritual forces are not able to reach you."
(Harold B. Lee, Relief Society Courses of Study, 1979-80, pp. 32-33)
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This further illustration comes from Pres. Ezra Taft Benson:
President David O. McKay and President Harold B. Lee used to relate an incident from the life of Bishop John Wells that is instructive to all of us. Bishop Wells was a great detail man and was responsible for many Church reports.

A son of Bishop and Sister Wells was killed in a railroad accident on October 15, 1915. He was run over by a freight car. Sister Wells could not be consoled. She received no comfort during the funeral and continued her mourning after her son was laid to rest. Bishop Wells feared for her health, as she was in a state of deep anguish.

One day, soon after the funeral, Sister Wells was lying on her bed in a state of mourning. The son appeared to her and said, "Mother, do not mourn, do not cry. I am all right."

He then related to her how the accident took place. Apparently there had been some question - even suspicion - about the accident because the young man was an experienced railroad man. But he told his mother that it was clearly an accident.

Now note this: He also told her that as soon as he realized that he was in another sphere, he had tried to reach his father but could not. His father was so busy with the details of his office and work that he could not respond to the promptings. Therefore, the son had come to his mother.
He then said, "Tell Father that all is well with me, and I want you not to mourn any more." (See David O. McKay, Gospel Ideals, Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1953, pp. 525-26.)
President McKay and President Lee used this experience to teach that we must always be responsive to the whisperings of the Spirit. These promptings most often come when we are not under the pressure of appointments and when we are not caught up in the worries of day-to-day life.

(Ezra Taft Benson, "Seek the Spirit of the Lord," Ensign, Apr. 1988, p. 2)

Amasa Lyman's Vision of a Heavenly Host

On July 19, 1857, Amasa Lyman preached to a gathering of Saints in the bowery on temple square. He recalled a vision that he had in Nauvoo in 1845:


"When we were in Nauvoo, at the beginning of the last winter we spent in Illinois, about the time the clouds were gathering so thick, and the last storm began to break upon us, we heard the thunders and threatenings of our enemies wherein they stated that we were to be driven away.

"At that time I was confined to my bed with sickness, but I heard the report of the proceedings day after day; but I could not come out to see the face of the heavens, to judge what the issues would be. To get away was impossible with me at that time, and we knew that the longer we stayed the more we should be oppressed by our enemies.

"After I had commenced to recover my health, one morning, while lying in my bed in open day, as wakeful as I am at this moment, the surrounding objects which I could see when in my natural condition all in an instant disappeared, and, instead of appearing to keep my bed, I found myself standing in a place where those acquainted with Nauvoo and the location of the Printing Office, subsequent to the death of the Prophets, will remember. There was a vacant lot in front of the Printing Office; I stood there, and I heard a rumbling noise something like that which attends the moving of a mass of people. I turned round to look in the direction of Main street, and behold! the whole country was filled with one moving mass of people that seemed to be travelling directly to the point where I stood. As they approached somewhat nearer, they seemed not to be travelling on the ground, but somewhat near the altitude of the tops of the buildings.

"At the head of the company were three personages clothed with robes of white, something like those which many of us are acquainted with. Around their waist was a girdle of gold, and from this was suspended the scabbard of a sword, -- the sword being in the hand of the wearer.

"They took their places with their faces directly west; and as they stopped, the individual in advance turned and looked over his shoulder to me with a smile of recognition. It was Joseph; and the others were his two brothers, Hyrum and Carlos.

"I contemplated them for a few moments; but to tell my feelings would be impossible. I leave you to guess them; for it would be futile to attempt a description.
"After contemplating the scene a few moments, I was again in my bed as before, and the vision had disappeared. This was my assurance, in the commencement of our troubles there, that I received of the guardianship that was around us and the protection that we were receiving from the hosts of heaven."
(_Journal of Discourses_, 5:59-60)


Amasa Lyman had been ordained an apostle in 1842 and was part of the first company led by Brigham Young to the Salt Lake valley; he also led a large company west himself in 1848, helping to witness the fulfillment of that vision in Nauvoo.    

*Compiled and written by David Kenison

Zebedee Coltrin's Visions in Kirtland

Zebedee Coltrin was born in 1804 in New York. He joined the Church in January 1831, and was a part of many of the early events in Church history such as Zion's Camp. He was ordained a seventy by Joseph Smith in 1835, and was one of the first seven presidents of the Seventy.
Later, Brother Coltrin was part of the first company to come to Utah with Brigham Young in 1847. He settled with his family in Spanish Fork, and was ordained a patriarch in his later years.

In 1883, Brother Coltrin met with the "School of the Prophets" in Salt Lake City and related to them some of his remembrances of the Prophet Joseph:

"Once Joseph gave notice to the school for all to get up before sunrise, then wash themselves and put on clean clothing and be at the school by sunrise, as it would be a day of revelation and vision. They opened with prayer. Joseph then gave instructions to prepare their minds. He told them to kneel and pray with uplifted hands."

Brother Coltrin then gave an account of the appearance of the Father and Son as given in the minutes of the meeting of the 3rd inst:
Jesus was clothed in modern clothing, apparently of gray cloth. When he saw Him in the Kirtland Temple, on the cross his hands were spiked to the wood and he had around him what appeared like a sheet.
Coltrin had also seen Joseph giving revelation when he could not look on his face, so full was he (Joseph) of the glory of God, and the house was full of the same glory.


About the time the school was first organized some wished to see an angel, and a number joined in the circle and prayed. When the vision came, two of the brethren shrank and called for the vision to close or they would perish; they were Brothers Hancock and Humphries. When the Prophet came in they told him what they had done and he said the angel was no further off than the roof of the house, and a moment more he would have been in their midst.

Once after returning from a mission, Zebedee Coltrin met Brother Joseph in Kirtland, who asked him if he did not wish to go with him to a conference at New Portage. The party consisted of Presidents Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Oliver Cowdery and [Zebedee Coltrin. Next morning at New Portage, he noticed that Joseph seemed to have a far off look in his eyes, or was looking at a distance and presently he, Joseph, stepped between Brothers Cowdery and Coltrin and taking them by the arm, said, 'Let's take a walk.' They went to a place where there was some beautiful grass and grapevines and swampbeech interlaced. President Joseph Smith then said, 'Let us pray.' They all three prayed in turn -- Joseph, Oliver, and Zebedee. Brother Joseph then said, 'Now brethren, we will see some visions.' Joseph lay down on the ground on his back and stretched out his arms and the two brethren lay on them. The heavens gradually opened, and they saw a golden throne, on a circular foundation, something like a light house, and on the throne were two aged personages, having white hair, and clothed in white garments. They were the two most beautiful and perfect specimens of mankind he ever saw. Joseph said, 'They are our first parents, Adam and Eve.' Adam was a large, broad-shouldered man, and Eve as a woman, was large in proportion."


(From "Zebedee Coltrin Minutes, SLC School of Prophets," 11 Oct 1883, pp. 66-67; see also _Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah_, p. 816; and Jenson, _LDS Biographical Encyclopedia_, 1:190, 4:697)

Compiled and written by David Kenison